Hey, Stephen here and this is my first draft representing Razzball. Let me know what you think of the team in the comments. Here is my team and a few things I was thinking:
Battle of the Fantasy Gods draft 3/7/11. 14 teams, Roto, 5 x 5, 2C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI, 5 OF, UTL, 9 P, 2 DL, 5 total bench spots (max 30 players); no innings limit, no at-bat limit.
Rd 1 Pk 9 – Evan Longoria, 3B
Rd 2 Pk 20 – Ryan Howard, 1B
Rd 3 Pk 37 – Brandon Phillips, 2B
Rd 4 Pk 48 – Hunter Pence, OF
Rd 5 Pk 65 – B.J. Upton, OF
Rd 6 Pk 76 – Yovanni Gallardo, SP
Rd 7 Pk 93 – Elvis Andrus, SS
Rd 8 Pk 104 – Matt Cain, SP
Rd 9 Pk 121 – Carlos Pena, 1B/CI
Rd 10 Pk 132 – Jose Valverde, RP/CL
Rd 11 Pk 149 – Shawn Marcum, SP
Rd 12 Pk 160 – Adam Jones, OF
Rd 13 Pk 177 – Ted Lily, SP
Rd 14 Pk 188 – Logan Morrison, OF
Rd 15 Pk 205 – Edwin Jackson, SP
Rd 16 Pk 216 – Matt Capps, RP/CL
Rd 17 Pk 233 – Ricky Nolasco, SP
Rd 18 Pk 244 – Jordan Zimmermann, SP
Rd 19 Pk 261 – Danny Espinosa, 2B/SS/MI
Rd 20 Pk 272 – Mike Minor, SP
Rd 21 Pk 289 – Bud Norris, SP
Rd 22 Pk 300 – Miguel Olivo, C
Rd 23 Pk 317 – Njyer Morgan, OF
Rd 24 Pk 328 – Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
Rd 25 Pk 345 – Octavio Dotel, RP/CL
Rd 26 Pk 356 – Brandon Allen, 1B
Rd 27 Pk 373 – Mike Moustakas, 3B
Rd 28 Pk 384 – Jesus Montero, C
Sleepers? Psh-posh. More like reach.
I follow a morphed strategy of Rudy’s and Grey’s by drafting safe and consistent players in the first few rounds, take value when it falls, and taking upside risks throughout the draft. However, I was struck by how many managers were drafting players far before I either expected them to or astronomically early. Jay Bruce drafted pick 46 (Grey’s ranking 84). Mike Stanton draft pick 63 (Grey’s ranking 87). Craig Kimbrel drafted pick 154 (Grey’s ranking 197). Drew Stubbs drafted pick 70 (Grey’s ranking 98). This doesn’t include Jose Bautista going before Prince Fielder over even Matt Kemp, or Buster Posey going at pick number 28 before Victor Martinez (pick 42), Brian McCann (pick 51) and three picks after Joe Mauer.
My team is yawnstipating with a glaring weakness in Average
… Yet that value makes my team feel boring. I don’t have a fancy tool like Rudy to run my team through to see if it’s “good enough” to defeat my opposition. However, there appears to be a few nice upside players littered throughout. For example, Marcum plucked at 149, Espinosa at 261, Asdrubal falling to 328. Octavio Dotel was a hope and a prayer. Mike Minor was my sexy pick back in March, now it doesn’t look as sexy. Matt Capps was a handcuff, because even as a Twins fan, I don’t trust Nathan.
Mama always said …
There will be struggles along the way. It’s amazing how decent this team looked two weeks ago and how scary — when’s Longoria returning? — the team looks now. Asdrubal still looks like a steal, but the last few rounds are flyers that don’t look so great now. The team should contend, but it’s going to take some maneuvering on the waiver wire and in trades. So what do you think of the team?
